63 New House, New Technique! (1/2)

”Ling Dufei, if you don't stand up this instant I'm going to break your bones one by one!”

The Second Star Arena was made up of a big platform separated into four smaller ones. One of them was empty, one had three disciples cultivating and the last two were currently hosting fights.

The powerful voice had come from one of them. A big burly man was standing above a young cultivator, threatening him.

The tall man with shoulders as broad as an ox's had glowing tattoos covering his arms, somewhat similar to Fu Xue's magical technique.

In one glance Shin Sumi could tell that he was a disciple of the Light-Breaking Pavilion.

The youth called Ling Dufei was dressed in a long dark grey robe. His head was shaved clean and despite his adult features, he seemed to have the body of a child.

The scrawny boy-man grimaced, wiping the trail of blood running from his lower lip with his right sleeve.

”If you continue to beat me up, Wang Pao, my friends from the Divine-Beast Pavilion will not let you rest, I can promise you!”

”Tch. First you dare to call my Breaking Style trash and then you keep your mouth open? Are you never going to learn? Do I have to pound it in your skull?”

Ling Dufei stood up on wobbly legs. Shin Sumi ignored how long the fight had been but Lin Dufei had obviously been on the receiving end of most of the action.

A yellow light appeared between his fingers, the Shinsoo signature of the technique reading as a binding spell.

Wang Pao chuckled. Under his half robes, his tattooed legs glowed as well, sending Shinsoo coursing through his lower members. In the blink of an eye, his enhanced calves and thighs had brought him in front of the poor Ling Dufei.

This time it was his arm's turn to glow as Wang Pao caught Ling Dufei's yellow light between his burly fingers.

The cracking sound was cut short by Ling Dufei's scream.

”Don't try to use that sort of low level spell on me, trash. I'm here for your Beast. Go on, if your Beast Style is as strong as you were proudly telling me before, use it and defeat me”, a mad smile twisting his lips,” I'm waiting.”

Ling Dufei had realized that Wang Pao would not let him do anything other than use the Beast Style. The burly man had retreated a few steps and was simply waiting, arms folded over his ripped chest.

Ignoring his broken fingers for now, Ling Dufei breathed out loudly, an invisible wind rolling one of his sleeves, revealing a Shinsoo imprint on his wrist.

Shin Sumi's eyes opened suddenly.

”That mark... It's a lot similar to the leaf pattern on my wrist!”

Located in the same place as the little nut's leaf pattern, Ling Dufei's wrist was adorned by a dark red paw pattern.

With enhanced perception, Shin Sumi could feel the change in Shinsoo around Ling Dufei as soon as the blood touched the paw mark.

”Something is coming... He is summoning his fighting beast!”

Lin Dufei's features were still distorted with rage but his eyes had gained a glimmer of hope in them. Now that he was in the middle of his summon, he had a chance at beating Wang Pao!

”So boring... How long is it going to take, eh?” Wang Pao was yawning.

Using the same technique as before, Wang Pao instantly stepped right in front of his opponent. Ling Dufei had no chance to react before a large fist planted itself in his belly.

Ling Dufei flew over ten meters, crashing on the ground right next to the arena platform in a cloud of dust mixed with his own blood.

”Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha I told him he would go down with a single punch!” Wang Pao was enjoying himself very much. Ling Dufei had passed out unconscious but the burly man was clearly not willing to stop soon.

”Pao, you're done. Go back to cultivation.”

The voice of an old man echoed through the entire arena, instantly stopping Wang Pao in his tracks. Even the fighters on the other platforms stopped.

Clearly the voice belonged to someone vastly superior to the puny Wang Pao who instinctively fell to his knees and bowed.

”Ye-Yes Master Mui...”

The fight was over. Wang Pao left the Second Star Arena without another glance at the fallen Ling Dufei. All the other disciples around resumed their activities like nothing ever happened.

Nobody went to help Ling Dufei get back to his senses or stand up. That was the way of the Immortal World, where the strong preyed on the weak.

Besides, a squabble between disciples like that was not world-ending. After such a beating, Ling Dufei would only need a day to recover. Despite the clear difference in strength, both cultivators were in the Liquid Realm.

Shin Sumi left too. This fight had nothing to do with her and she was not one to mingle into another's business like that. Only, the tattoo on Ling Dufei's arm was etched deep into her memory.

”A mark for summoning a fighting beast... Why does it look so similar to the little nut's leaf pattern?”

The Divine-Beast Pavilion... Could it be the key to understand the mysterious little nut that had brought her so far into the Immortal World without revealing any of its secrets?

The answer had to wait. Shin Sumi followed the path indicated by Fen Wudao, starting behind the Second Star Arena all the way into the middle of a forest.

She was about to stop and retrace her steps back, convinced that she had taken a wrong turn when Shin Sumi spotted an old looking wall in the distance.

The forest was dense with trees and bamboo groves. A few streams of pure spring water had crossed her path a few times. Moss-covered rocks stuck out of the ground here and there.

Although it looked very pretty, Shin Sumi had thought that Fen Wudao was going to assign her a courtyard, not take her out for a walk in the forest!

But at the end of the path, when nothing else seemed made by man, there was an old wall. Walking up to it, Shin Sumi spotted the silhouette of a young man dressed in white.

”Brother Fen, this place is beautiful, where are we?”

”Hello Sister Shin.”

Fen Wudao gestured around him at the old wall and the decrepit looking gate that was planted in the middle of it.

”Welcome to your new house. I know what you're thinking, it is in ruins and nowhere near what should be considered as an Immortal cave, but come take a better look!”

Shin Sumi didn't object, instead sending a bit of Shinsoo into the Copper Bell in her bag of holding. The artefact reacted instantly upon activation, tuning Shin Sumi to her environment.

Just like in the first phase of the Rising Star Tournament, the illusion was dispelled. In the tournament, the illusion of being in a desert served the purpose of allowing the disciples with the best Shinsoo affinity and mental aptitudes to start ahead of the others but here it was a simple trick in order to deceive one's eyes.

Only the Copper Bell was the perfect artefact to counter that trick. Although Shin Sumi couldn't pierce through the full extent of the illusion, the old wall and the decrepit gate had now turned into a transparent greyish screen in her eyes.

Shin Sumi could make out the shape and the existence of a complete building in their place, as if it were in and out of reality.

Fen Wudao of course had no idea that Shin Sumi possessed such an artefact, probably even unaware that such a thing existed in the first place.

The young man threw a small silvery plate at Shin Sumi who caught it between two fingers. On the silver slip was a shallow carving of a moon with a shadow across its diameter.

”The Ghost Pavilion symbol!”

Shin Sumi knew what to do. She poured her divine sense into the plate, which immediately linked itself to her. The silver morcel was now hers with all its secrets.

Now that she owned a key to the hidden house, the illusion dispersed fully. The Copper Bell had already shown her that an illusion was active there but now the spell was gone.

The wall stood strong and in perfect shape, three meter tall walls along the entire domain. A bronze colored wooden door with carved handles was opened in the middle of it, peering into a beautiful garden.